Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

My heart wasn't built to watch this team - by John Brennan


tlw content
 Share

Recommended Posts

Can we go back to it being the close season? Seriously? Give me transfer requests, marketing jaunts and sleeve-sponsorship (SS?) announcements any day. Soul-destroying, yes. A threat to my blood pressure, no. We might end up doing well this season, but I won’t be around to see it. My heart wasn’t built to watch this team.

 

Heart? Did someone mention heart? You know that thing that was lacking for forty-five minutes today. Mané apart, we never even showed up. But that’s this team for you. The game just isn’t big enough, sometimes. Granted it was the opening day, but it was only Watford. Arsenal last season? Played them off the park in stages. Which makes me edgy for Hoffenheim. I can’t wait for us to be back in the European Cup but we won’t get there if today is anything to go by…

 

No doubt, there’ll be those who cry “knee-jerk!”. Except it’s not a knee-jerk reaction when you predicted it. We’ll get the usual drivel trotted out: “We’re only a game in. Wait till October to have a better idea of where we are.” Only a game in? That just doesn’t cut it any more. This was Klopp’s 69th game in charge in the League! And we’ve conceded 85 goals. This is a chronic problem that’s ruining any chance we have of challenging for trophies.

 

But Klopp is pretty untouchable, isn’t he? He’s funny, does a good interview and that. Sorry, but he’s not getting paid to make us laugh. He gets paid to sort this mess out. And manifestly, he’s incapable of it. Apart from players getting injured, what actually happens at Melwood every day? Do they work on defending, blocking crosses, picking up their men at set-pieces? Everyone else knows this is where we’re weak. Klopp knows so much, he even went on Monday Night Football to explain what we were doing wrong. Maybe it’d be an idea to, y’know, tell the players before telling a national TV audience.

 

This team will score a hatful of goals; some of our attacking play is sparkling. Mané rarely disappoints and Salah looks like he could be a future Barcelona star. There are no thrust issues with the front men, just a trust issue with the defence. We need to score twice and even three times to have a hope of getting three points. That’s huge, unsustainable pressure to put on any attack.

 

As long as this team defends like it does, we’re going nowhere. How to fix it? New men and hard work. Carra may claim that one man won’t resolve it. He’s right, of course he is. But we need to add quality at the back. Lovren and Matip know that Klopp doesn’t rate them. Why would he have tried to sign van Dijk if he did? Klopp is right not to rate either of them, of course. They inspire nothing but trepidation and jitters in the whole team. When you have the likes of Moreno (who wasn’t that bad today) and a youngster at right-back, you can’t afford to be that weak down the centre.

 

Today was a bad day. A win would have papered over the cracks. It’s been a tough week for everyone at the Club. We don’t need Philippe Coutinho (pretend you’re Tina Turner and sing it, it might do you good). We’ve got Salah, Mané, Bobby, Sturridge, Solanke, Lallana… We’ll score enough goals. But we need to find a way to stop them going in. It’s plagued us since Klopp got here and we are no nearer a solution.

 

Boss? Tha’?

 

John Brennan

@JohnAPBrennan



Click here to view the article
  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I take the point in the opening post about the defence. I think Klopp is trying to improve it, and hopefully VVD comes in and helps knit a tighter unit together. But we aren't about to become George Graham's Arsenal any time soon, as we aren't that sort of side. That said, we can and should be better at the back.

 

We dug deep to finish top four last season. There were a number of games where we stood up to be counted. We need that sort of collective resilience on a more regular basis, plus a defensive kingpin who will lead by example and make the rest of them better.

 

Hopefully it happens...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soul destroying indeed. That's what the club has been doing to too many of us all for years, especially the last ten.

 

The idea that the club owners and team management seems to think that they can just such blatantly ignore glaring problems with the defence is shocking, if not surprising unfortunately. Another summer wasted being very, very busy doing nothing yet again...

 

It's this constant demonstration of unwillingness to sort out clearly visible, obvious problems that's a cancer running through Liverpool Football Club. The patient requires significant treatment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have got to the point where it's better to not be emotional invested in this team anymore. The owners are bleeding us dry and until that changes we'll stay scrapping for the top 6 every season.

 

This transfer window was the time to build on last seasons foundations but we have weakened the team as opposed to strengthened it.

 

Moreno back as first choice left back, sums this shit up perfectly.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have got to the point where it's better to not be emotional invested in this team anymore. The owners are bleeding us dry and until that changes we'll stay scrapping for the top 6 every season.

 

This transfer window was the time to build on last seasons foundations but we have weakened the team as opposed to strengthened it.

 

Moreno back as first choice left back, sums this shit up perfectly.

Yep 1 step forward 2 steps back.

There's a lot not right behind the scenes there's no way klopp is happy with just this bunch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dejan Lovren is the single most disastrous player I have ever seen consistently play for us.

 

Having said that, I do think it's premature to say that Klopp is "manifestly incapable" of sorting out our defensive mistakes. He has been very good since he arrived, and this is only the start of his second full season. He's a world class manager, but he's learning in England and he will fix it, before Christmas, in my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dejan Lovren is the single most disastrous player I have ever seen consistently play for us.

 

Having said that, I do think it's premature to say that Klopp is "manifestly incapable" of sorting out our defensive mistakes. He has been very good since he arrived, and this is only the start of his second full season. He's a world class manager, but he's learning in England and he will fix it, before Christmas, in my opinion.

Not without new players there he won't..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put this in another thread. Seems apt here too...

 

Everyone involved at Liverpool should have one aim and that is to do everything they can to achieve a league championship win. Everything else is fluff and window dressing.

 

At the moment the owners, management and players aren't doing that as far as I can see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John B is first 9 and the author of the GF constitution. Disagreeing with him is entirely warranted, but the man deserves the utmost respect on this forum.

 

'But Klopp is pretty untouchable, isn’t he? He’s funny, does a good interview and that. Sorry, but he’s not getting paid to make us laugh. He gets paid to sort this mess out. And manifestly, he’s incapable of it.'

 

Anyone coming out with nonsense like the above needs to get a grip. Klopp is pretty much the only positive at the club at the moment. If he goes we are truly fucked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put this in another thread. Seems apt here too...

 

Everyone involved at Liverpool should have one aim and that is to do everything they can to achieve a league championship win. Everything else is fluff and window dressing.

 

At the moment the owners, management and players aren't doing that as far as I can see.

Are the fans doing their part, in your view?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...